Sports

Published October 31, 2026 6:10pm

This wasn’t a dream for Thomas MacLaren at Norris Penrose Event Center. The Highlanders saw the payoff from nearly a decade of sweat equity.

Thomas MacLaren won the school’s first-ever state championship and captured the 2A girls cross country title with 75 points. The Highlanders squeaked past second place Ridgway, which finished with 78 points.

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Only 10 points separated 2A’s top four teams.

“This is the moment you dream about and pray for, but you didn’t think it was really going to happen,” Lucy Alvarado said. “We were joking about it on the start line and said, ‘What if we really get first?’ And then we really did it. It’s insane.”

The Highlanders have come close to titles in the past, including last spring when the girls finished as runners-up at the 2A state track and field championships in Lakewood.…